Nowhere but up

Blogging in 'real time', for once. Not a great night by the set-up--half of women's combined, women's snowboardcross (one of those made-for-MTV sports that Americans should always win so there's no drama), men's skeleton and ice dancing.

HOUR ONE
Men's Skeleton
Again, an odd decision--gotta hook 'em early, is this the best they can do? Kristan Bromley of Britain, 'Dr. Ice', who wrote a thesis related to the sport. 'This guy's almost too smart to be a skeleton rider' says one of the announcers. Maybe he should be an announcer. They note that his girlfriend won a silver yesterday on a sled he built, but dumbly don't show a clip. Wow, finishes .02 ahead of his teammate.

Next, reigning world champ, Jeff Pain of Canada. They should talk a little about the legs--what kind of role they play in steering, or braking. 77 mph going down, into first by .37 after sortof a slow start. Three announcers are competing at who can shout more urgently. Yo, guys--this ain't rocket sciene or world peace, chill a little. Eric Bernotas of the U.S. next. Hopes he does something, maybe this is why NBC put it on so early. Oops, hits side. Whoah, he looks very still and smooth. But is losing some time? Is it the sled? Announcers are no help as to why he's into just 5th. They do show him a replay of bumping the wall. Next, well-named Duff Gibson of Canada. With the U.S. team failing at the Olympics are they now honorary Americans for NBC's programming decisions? He's into first.

There's really no excuse for Americans not to dominate the Olympics. I assume with 300 million people we have at least as much raw talent as any other country. Any American athlete with any ability in a medal sport has access to the best technology and coaching money can buy. So the only thing left are how much pure sweat and time someone is willing to put into getting ready; and the intangibles--desire, dedication, ability to execute come game day. And that ever-elusive team momentum and feeling of it's meant to be. The U.S.'s team's poor showing so far is mainly psychological, I think; so it could turn around quickly.

Women's Combined
Downhill plus slalom--in this case due to weather, downhill gets pushed to tomorrow. They highlight American Lindsay Kildow; then Swede Anja Pearson and Croatian Janica Kostelic, which makes me think the Americans don't do anything here.

They show Niki Fleiss of Croatia first doing the downhill before they canceled it; wow, she wipes out, but they mention it in passing. So why are they showing this if it didn't matter? She's only going with one pole after the crash; takes her almost 2 minutes. Well, actually it becomes more interesting, show racers' reaction as it's canceled.

For real now, Austrian M. Schild, engaged to Bernard Raich. Good time, just under 40 seconds. Next, Nicole Hosp, fellow Astrian. Very deliberate skiing, but good rhythmn. Into second. I think with such a short course, the winner will be someone who's controlled out-of-control.

Best commercial I've seen so far--Omega, official Olympics timekeeper for 22 years. Yup, that's all you really need to know.

Janica Kostelic next, I like her, hope she wins. She's charming, she's great, she's just 24 years old says Time Ryan. But suffering from some sort of fever. Half second back already, gonna be in trouble. But into second.

Anja Paerson next, good blue/yellow streaks outfit. Announcer says racers don't really know how to get into the hill, used to more time to get into rhythmn; Paerson's into third. Really? They've had training runs; I assume they have tv and have watched the men's races; and they have coaches who by this point can tell them what's happening. Todd Brooker does add something, the skiers seem to be having problems with their edges, grabbing too much. But why?

Katherin Zettel, another Austrian. She won't do well, too deliberate up front, standing too straight. Sure enough, into fifth. Do we get observations from the announcers? Nope, they talk about seeing her shopping. Kildow next, so they rerun the crash, and talking to her about it.

Another of the interminable commercials for 'Young Prosecutors'--whoops, it's actually called 'Conviction'. You know, if you're gonna run literally hundreds of commercials like this that take up millions of dollars in time, don't just run them randomly. Have a plan. Introduce the major characters by giving them their own commercial, and build them progressively, almost like a mini-episode, so it's not just hoping to build awareness via saturation.

Back, Kildow goes. She won't do anything, it's 8:31 and she's pretty injured. Hmm, she's leaning forward, which I think is good on this short course. Whoah, way slower, 1.25 behind. Finishes 1.47 behind, into 8th. Next, fellow American Julia Mancusco. She doesn't wear a helmet--only one on the circuit--but does wear a tiara. Okay.... She looks slow. Into 8th, bumps Kildow back. Hmm, they have a web reference, 'Legend Picao Street'--try legendary, and she isn't. Not sure why they wanna send people to the website anyway during the broadcast; besides which, it's a horrible site.

Next, Resi Stiegler, who's skiing wearing pearls around her neck. Ok.... There's a story there, go find it. She apparently wanted to wear tiger ears originally, but wasn't allowed to do that. Brooker says well, if you wanna dress up, you gotta walk the walk, and so far she isn't doing it. She's into 7th. Brooker actually is growing on me; it'd be nice though to tell us if these Americans are better in slalom or downhill.

Cold bones
Well, if it's back to skeleton as 9 approaches, the American must medal; or else NBC is desperate. They're not running non-stop promos for Americans in the other event, so I'm not optimistic. Hey, it's Jim Shea, who won in Salt Lake--I remember him, he was like a third-generation Olympian, his grandfather had died. Bernotas is up right away, he's gonna need to make up time; instead, is falling behind. He can't medal.... Doing better as it goes on. But then mistakes; into second, still early. Forget it.

Gregor Staehli of Switzerland. Good race, into first. Pain next; he's fast, so American will be bumped out. Wow, messes up, bounces off wall--annoucer yells 'Holy mackeral'; but still takes first?! No word from announcers on how that could happen in this event, apparently it's not as unforgiving as most of the others. His teammate Gibson next, he'll win. Announcers yell as he takes gold; I guess we've annexed Canada for the duration of the Games (as long as they keep doing well).

Ice Dancing
First of three nights. Everyone competes to the same music in the Compulsory so we'll hear it all night--how about talking about it a little? Nope. They just name it, the Ravensburg waltz; ah, Bezic later, expounding a little, still no idea who wrote it. Drobiazko/Vanagas, the Lithuanian team, looking like a bride and groom. Same steps to the same music for everyone, except at the end--like ballroom dancing on ice. They look elegant, but no analysis from the announcers. Where are Button/Hamilton? Tom Hammond and Bezic don't work.

Jenny Silverstein/Ryan O'Meara, Americans who train in Michigan. Hmm, Jenny returned to skating after battling an eating disorder. She's in an ugly purplish prom dress, he in standard tux and tails. She's got this hokey fake open-mouthed fake smile on her face. There's space between them, also no sense of dangerous speed. She looks so aware that they're performing; as announcers say, they've only been together for a year so a lot of thinking going on. Bezic tries to do some analysis; but also a lot of dead air while we're waiting for scores. They're only in second at this stage.

Gregory/Putkhov. These guys met over the Internet, he's Russian but now American. Oh, Dick Button's now in the booth, no explanation of where he's been. Immediately it's better. If closeness to your partner matters, these guys aren't that tight. Cool graphic showing the pattern everyone must skate; each of three parts has its own score. 9 steps in first, more in each of the next two; 41 steps in all. Post-race interview Gregory seems cool, Putkhov too. U.S. has two immigrants on its six-member team.

HOUR TWO
Combined again
Kildow shown first, now night has fallen. Hmm, how come she isn't wearing jewelry? She falls! Poor Lindsey, rough Olympics for her so far, stays down on the ice for a while. With plans to race three more events, having an extra day off might be good Ryan notes. Mancusco next, very wide turns, not good. Whoah, seems to be on the edge of falling. And she's into 2nd early. Brooker says he's not very impressed with her, not sharp enough; it's not the toughest course, he wants better skiing.

Stiegler next. Maybe Pearls will do something. Brooker says she isn't very good at downhill, so she needs to do it right here. Her dad, Pepi, apparently has three Oympic medals. Into third... Brooker says Americans are just making too many mistakes. Quick Google lookup points up to a German Wikipedia entry, tells us Josef 'Pepi' Stiegler skied for Austria and won the slalom gold in Innsbruck in 1964 and a bronze in giant slalom; also won silver in 1960 in Squaw Valley.

Zettel of Austria next, she looks aggressive. Into first. Next, Paerson, good form up top. More tentative on bottom, into second. Ugh. Next, Kostelic. Seems to be making very wide turns up top. Whoah, almost misses a gate. Better on the bottom part, into first! Yaay. Finally, Schild. Apparently Kostelic and Paerson better downhill skiers than her, so she's gotta take a lead into that part. And she's got nearly a half-second lead. Americans are way back, highest is 14th. Kildow anguished in brief post-race interview.

Women's snowboard cross quarters
Back in hell. Why do they think Americans are dying to see so much this sport? I guess Americans do well, and they gotta fill time somehow. My guess is American doesn't take gold here, they haven't been profiling anyone in the first hour and a half tonight.

Kick off showing French coach protesting... ok. First heat, couple of Frenchies, Canadian, Austrian. No idea who anyone is, or why we should care. They're noticeably slower than the guys, it's the same course. As par for this event, leader cruises, crash takes out others. They should do a segment on the ugly blue paint that's used the mark a bunch of the courses here. Canadian wins, one of the Frenchies also advances.

British, Swiss, Swede, and a German. Where's Napolean?! Last two crash early, easy run for Swiss and Swede. Scott Wescott's girlfriend apparentl is the Swiss rider. They should do a segment on all the intra-dating. Why wouldn't they have done that on V-Day?

Next, American Lindsey Jacobellis. In her profile, she says 'It's fun doing a guy's sport, and still be a woman and be graceful about it.' 'It's a stereotype that snowboarders are lazy and don't work as hard as athletes in other sports.' She comes across as likeable. Says she'd love to train with the guys. Show her riding a board with wheels in fall. Funny, her pigtails stick out the back of her helmet.

Swissie, Frenchie, Jacobellis, and Brazilian. Odd, Lindsey only American in the field--how the hell did that happen? I thought the Americans ruled this sport, announcers are no help. Lindsey's in second, can't get to 'hole shot' first. Oh oh, bunched up now. Oh, she gets tangled up, but fights through it. Still way back in second, it's gonna be tight. Whoah, third place person out, almost takes out Lindsey. She makes semis, along with Swissie. A little too close.

Final quarters round, Canadian, Japanese, two others. Canadian well out in front, should cruise. Big battle for second right now, will this be the first race without a crash? Wow, crash, fourth place Japanese woman makes it into semis, she was trailing by a ton. Dumbly, one of the women who crashed just gave up and was mad--get back up and race, who knows, there may be another wipeout.

HOUR THREE
More ice dancing
Ruassians Domnnina/Shabalin , both in all white. They're 'fluid, well-matched' says Bezic. Fast, too. And they skate close together. Noticeably a better performance than what's come before. Bezic says to watch the feet, and if their feet are leaving the ice at the same time in the same direction. Good marks, into first.

Urkrainians Grushina/Gonchar, husband and wife. Both in white, hers is cut so the back is bare and the front has a t-shape. They're good, fast and a good rhythmn. As Bezic says, they make it look easy. The Americans can't compete against this. Oddly, they end far apart. They train in Connecticut, and will apparently start teaching, Button says that'll be good for American dance. This is why the U.S. does get better in most events, like when Bela Karolyi, Nadia Comaneci's coach, moved to Texas and trained the women's gymnastics team to gold.

God, an unbelievable cheesy segment about Tanith and Ben, shot like it's a diamond commercial or something, all sultry looks and passionate music, no narration--just text on the screen. Says she was born in Canada over a shot of her driving outside Detroit. This is embarrassingly bad, especially since they're nominally athletes.

Italy's B-team, Faiella/Scali, she in red. Hmm, a different opening than everyone else. You can hear their blades, that's probably not a good thing. Button says 'for those people who haven't spent a lot of time ice dancing...' as if the majority of us wouldn't fall into that category. Crowd cheers for them, Bezic liked it too although it seemed just fine to me; he's funny, pulls on his ear for luck as the scores come up, into fourth.

The favorites from Russia, Navka/Kostomarov, who haven't lost since the end of 2004, only lost once since 2003. She's in white, big jeweled cross. Bezic says this has been the weakest part of the competition for them. They're fast; more chattering of blades than you'd think. Bezic says on tv it looks a little over the top, but in the arena, their big presence is perfect. Into first.

Belbin and Agusto, she's in a nice white dress with blue at the edges. They have good looks on their faces, don't look fake, just happy and confident. A little slower than the Russians, doesn't look as effortless either. But good... now Button raises Torville and Dean's oneness, the best he's seen--these two aren't there, remember with the Brits it was like one entity moving. He's nicer than she is, into third, she's got kindof a steely look although Belzic says this is where they wanna be. Oh?!

So far this has been a disappointing night, nothing so amazingly exciting from NBC.

More cross
Frenchie, Swiss, Canadian, Swede in the first semi. Based on timing, American must win something here. Well-spaced racers here, no crash yet. Oops, 2nd and 3rd bumping, later on 3rd falls, so we're still waiting for our first non-crash run. Also apparently 4th place woman fell, Canadian and Swiss move on.

Lindsey's semis. Swiss, then her, Canadian, Japanese. Really, 3 riders for 2 spots here. Cool, she's out front early, but bumps, second again at hole shot. Whoah, she passes cleanly, as 1st place woman bobbles, nice move. Now 2nd is right on her, they're out front; she widens her lead, this is an exciting race, she just needs to cruise here, and advances along with Canadian, who nearly caught her at the end. Maybe not a good sign that the Canadian seemed to make up time near the end.

Like last night, they go straight into finals. Also like last night, timing bodes pretty well for American. Swiss, Canadian 1, Canadian 2, Lindsey--in the bad last position where nobody's won yet. Will announcers mention that? Nope. Pretty tense here.

Gets out a bit slower than others, totally aggressive, she's into first! So close, wow. Whoah, more contact--Lindsey's way out front, other rider; total crash! She's gonna win, easily, wow, this is a lot of fun. Only 2 riders on the course right now. Oh she falls, no way! On the home stretch, unbelievable, in site of the finish line. Announcers are in shock, she is too. Still gets silver... Swiss rider Tanja Frieden wins. Announcers say she may have fallen on an unnecessary showboat trick. Oh well, that's sports.

Nice replay, show one Canadian climbing back onto course to get bronze; ooh, other one getting medical attention. Wow, she's being taken off on a sled, all immobilized.

She claims she tried to stabilize, but it didn't work. Seems okay in post-race interview, at least talks about it. Feel bad for her; oh well, she'll be back in Vancouver. Funny shot at end, Wescott celebrating, cause his girlfriend won.

Announcer admits he'd probably have done same stylish move, but it costs Lindsey.

HOUR FOUR
Still dancing
Andrea Joyce talks to Belbin and Agusto--odd, camera cuts off half of her face. Usual sports talk.

Whoah, Bulgarians Denkova/Stavinski, in odd green outfits, like a hippie wedding. Both train in Delaware now. Belzic notes the costuming isn't great. They're pretty fast, seem comfortable. Look very similar, both long dirty-blond hair. Into second.

Big applause for top Italians, Fusar-Poli/Margaglio, in crazy fluroscent orange outfits. Came outof retirement for this. Crowd applauds for nothing as they start. Pretty precise. Will bump Americans down to 5th, unless they fall. They don't; finish with Italian flair. Wow, into first--holy home court favoritisim. They catch on later than the crowd that they're in first, crowd goes nuts. Sheesh, what kind of sport is this?

Tough act for Canadians Dubreuil/Lauzon to follow, she's in pale blue. Good dance. Interview with Italians, they seem very professional here, almost serious. Cold head and warm heart she says. Canucks into 4th; leaderboard bunched close, top six within two points. Shot of Belbin, chilling look from her.

Deconstructing cross
Jimmy Roberts and Chevy claim snowboarding has been the highest-profile sport at the Games... oh? But that Lindsey's bobble overshadows it all. He puts it into perspective, brings up Leon Lett. He's apparently decided Lindsey was showboating. Wound the product of self-congratulation, and she lost. That last part is the worst part, although Jimmy doesn't say it. They should show her tape in locker rooms across America; haven't seen any websites today, not sure how this is playing. But I think it'll be easy for people to jump on her. Hmm, apparently both Wescott and the American team's coach say it was foolish. Yet Lindsey's gonna be in the studio.

Costas thanks her for being there; first question: What were you thinking? She doesn't answer it, or thought he was asking about her mindset coming into the race. He asks again. She says it's possible she was showboating, she says she was really excited, got caught up in the moment, says oh well, shrugs, laugh--but not in a dismissive way or anything.

I like her, this whole thing is kindof silly--as Costas says, part of snowboating's appeal is it's not so formal. Now she says she stopped paying attention, her mind was somewhere else. At the end she says 'yes, I made a mistake, but I can't always dwell on it.'

She comes out of this as good as she could have. Also says she still has 'possibly the next Olympics', Bob says well you're so young, definitely, she says yes, but you have to qualify to compete for your country.... Wow, she's really a good person, you feel bad for her, but she definitely shouldn't be villified. And Costas appropriately says thanks for coming in and not ducking the questions, shakes her hand.

That's usually the thing about Americans--we tend to screw up a lot because we're always trying for more. But most of the time, we're able to move on, and our defining moments tend not to be failure--Dan Jansen in Calgary and Albertville--but ultimate triumph--Jansen in Lillehammer.

They wrap prime time with a look back at memorable moments from the first week; it's well-done, they really need to do this at the end of every night. I've seen every moment... that Russians pairs win was pretty good, so was Legety, Shaun Williams talking about his family, the Swedish cross-country skiers....

It's been an okay first week of the Olympics. Not as excited overall as I've been in years past; I really think NBC's coverage has been pretty horrible. CBS was very good in Nagano, exceptional in Lillehammer. NBC wasn't bad in Salt Lake, although anyone really could have done a good job with that.

Feel like these Olympics haven't yet found their electric moment, something that elevates everything else. But still nine days left for the next Dan Jansen, Johann Olav Koss, Picabo Street, Bonnie Blair, Hermann Maier, Alberto Tomba, Oksana Baiul, or Sergei and Grinkov to emerge.

Photo of Lindsey Jacobellis falling in the finals by Joe Klamar/ AFP.